NL Housing Minister toured Nunatsiavut this week, getting a first-hand look at conditions in coastal communities like Nain and Hopedale.
John Abbott’s visit a few months after Canada’s first federal housing advocate, Marie Josee Houle toured the Labrador Region earlier this past fall to get a glimpse of housing conditions for a report she is preparing for the Federal Government.
She used words like “abominable” and “human rights disaster” to describe the situation, saying she still has nightmares about some of the substandard conditions people living in.
Abbott said he understands her opinion and hopes to change the situation as quickly as possible. He added “hopefully next time the advocate is in Labrador, she will see significant change.”
Some communities have long waitlists for new houses leading to cramped up conditions with extended families sharing the same house.
The local Inuit Government launched the Nunatsiavut Housing Commission on Thursday, November 30, 2022 with a mandate of building and maintaining of its own supply of public housing – from emergency shelters to rental homes.
Abbott added “we know that the best way to do this, the most efficient and effective way is to work together. They are on the ground, we have financial resources we can bring to bear, we have planning resources we can bring to bear, and I think working together we can solve the problems.
“And we all know we have a lot more work to do, and that’s why to make sure we can work with the commission to come up with a joint approach so that we can address all the housing needs in Nunatsiavut, particularly in Nain and Hopedale.”